U. of Vermont, Grossman School of Business, US, United States
The pursuit of social change poses a significant challenge for marginalized communities, as limited resources constrain their capacity for self-organization, while reliance on centralized authority undermines the legitimacy of calls for change. Participation architectures—non-hierarchical, sociotechnical structures that facilitate large-scale engagement through predefined pathways and rules—offer a potential organizational solution. However, we don’t know if and how these architectures can balance the individual needs of marginalized people with the sustained collective commitment required to drive social change. We address this gap by examining Leste, a social movement organization in São Paulo, Brazil, which has mobilized thousands of low-income families over three decades to participate in protests for housing policy reform, incentivizing engagement through pathways to homeownership. We find that Leste’s enduring impact lies in its integration of a points-based system within its participation architecture, enabling the simultaneous realization of three mutually reinforcing organizational attributes: (1) cultivation of self-governance capabilities and norms, (2) inducement of coopetition, and (3) fostering of organizational justice. By theorizing how interaction between the attributes enables the organization to navigate hostile environments and build readiness to seize opportunities when social change becomes possible, this study adds to our understanding of the elusive link between organizational design and social change.
